Category: Jinxie G

So I got to do this last night and figured since I haven’t written any kind of review or anything else in ages, I’d tell you my thoughts. You may or may not like the movie. Depends on where you’re at in life, I suppose, but I thoroughly enjoyed the fuck out of it and plan to see it again ASAP.

Also, I want to be an Atlantean.

Arthur Curry learns that he is the heir to the underwater kingdom of Atlantis, and must step forward to lead his people and be a hero to the world.

Rated: PG-13
Release Date: December 21, 2018

Typical hero journey where the hero must face hardships and go through a trial to achieve the one thing he doesn’t want—to become king. Right?

Not exactly. And it isn’t quite so simple. Don’t worry, I don’t drop spoilers.

I mean, yes, we’re definitely following the hero journey story line because it’s a superhero movie, but there isn’t much typical about this movie, much like there isn’t anything typical about Jason Momoa. Aquaman is filled with comedy and drama, love, exceptional action and horror that throws some fantastic jump-scare at its audience. The backstory is well done and touching. The comedy is timed perfectly, in my opinion, and quite hilarious. We’re faced with more than one bad guy but also shown consequences of our actions. And by “our” I mean ‘we the audience’ as well as the characters.

We’ve already seen Momoa in this role in Justice League, but this film, this movie, expands on that, and he is outstanding and was meant to play Arthur Curry. Of that, I have no doubt. Kinda like Ryan Reynolds is Deadpool. Nicole Kidman as Atlanna kicks ass, Amber Heard as Mera gives a great performance, and Willem Dafoe…what can I say? The man playing Vulko has been in both Marvel and DC movies, and his acting is stellar as always. Patrick Wilson gives a fabulous performance as the entitled King Orm, and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II shows us a glimpse of Manta’s humanity, albeit brief, and what one will do to exact revenge. James Wan (Insidious,Furious 7), director, gives us visuals—holy sh!t the visuals—that are stunningly beautiful, and storytelling that is spot on and retains the momentum from Jenkins’ Wonder Woman, keeping the DCU’s heart beating strong.

I don’t know about you, but I think DC has finally figured out how to make movies. I will definitely be watching this again, and buying it.

If you’re one of my clients, or a potential new client, you may want to read this….

We’re coming up on August soon, which is the start of school here and my busiest time of year at the day job, so the entire month of August is blocked out to any type of editing or formatting. I work for a school district, and have to hold teachers’ hands at the start of the year and teach them how to use their new software/device or troubleshoot any issues that come up, and it is draining this time of year. We’re talking about several thousand devices, too, and a high call volume. Honestly, sometimes the teachers are worse than their students. I find it hysterical. It’s part of why I love my job.

The rest of July is already booked open, and I do have openings again starting the second weekend of September. Please plan accordingly. I’d greatly appreciate it. Otherwise, I’ll charge an extra $200.00-$300.00 if you absolutely have to have something finished in August. We’ll call it my inconvenience fee after you’ve been warned. Shiny.

One day I realized I was letting that bitch take my creativity from me….

Something happened several years ago that resulted in the loss of friendships, the loss of someone I’d considered a brother, but at the same time helped me break free from a cycle of manipulation that, under different circumstances had I not just had the love of my life walk out on me, never would have had me in the position in the first place. Vulnerability is a cunt. Now, the incident itself isn’t what’s important here; it’s the after-effects I’d like to discuss, but we need to backtrack a bit first.

Prior to the aforementioned incident, my world fell apart. Everything that I’d worked for and built started slipping away when someone I’d trusted more than anyone aside from my own mother betrayed me on a level that was too familiar. I didn’t know about the betrayal right away, however; it would be another four years before I learned of its existence, but on a level most don’t understand, I knew it was there…even before it happened. Confused? So was I for the first two years, not knowing why my world was crumbling. At any rate, shit happened and I tumbled down a spiral of depression. A good deal of it appears on this blog, and it was in the midst of that depression that the incident occurred.

Jumping forward again…. After the aforementioned incident, I had a difficult time writing much of anything. Every bit of it was a struggle, like I’d lost the drive to put words to paper. It was essentially like this person completely ruined writing for me, and in a way they had, and all I’d been able to do until recently was edit older novels and other authors’ books. I didn’t write for a good portion of these last eight years with exception to a couple of short stories and anthologies, but I’m slowly working myself back into the habit. It’s been a real bitch to do, but I try to get at least some words down. If I’m going to be honest here, I haven’t had a lot of success until recently, but it mostly happens on the weekends or during long breaks from work (school district). It was over a weekend earlier this year that I had the realization I’d allowed this to happen (the non-creativity part), and that I’d allowed someone to (figuratively) take that from me.

How could I have let this happen? I asked myself this question numerous times that night. Again, vulnerability is a cunt. There is a level of depression where you inadvertently allow people to have power over you. I’m a fairly strong person. I’m the one who stands strong when my family succumbs to sorrow. But even the strong can crumble. My ex leaving was devastating…and so, I crumbled. Once I’d realized what had happened and how, and once I forgave myself, something changed inside me. A spark re-lit the creativity.

Since then, I’ve actually been writing. And it has been glorious.

I’ve put in quite a few words this year, even for me these days, but I’m damn proud of those words because it’s taken me over two years to write this novella, and it’s currently about to release. It’s a bit longer than I intended, but if that’s what it takes to tell the story, then that’s fine by me.

Have a look….

When you’re the Prince of Darkness, how do you find true love?

Aside from lacking in the love department, Luc is having difficulty maintaining Hell and desperately needs a vacation, but when you’re the type to take on everything yourself and don’t always delegate, bad things tend to happen. Like when the harpies escaped and nearly took out a small village, or when his dog got loose and took on the traits of its father, the guard dog from Hell. If Luc doesn’t get his life together soon, there will literally be hell to pay. Behind every semi-functional man is a great woman keeping his ass in line. Considering Hell’s state of affairs, solitary life hasn’t really worked out for him thus far. Luc needs a woman, and soon. Is true love even attainable for the first Fallen?

Badboy69 – Lonely Devil looking for a match made in Hell. Must love dogs…and play well with demons.

Seph keeps finding love in all the wrong places, and is tired of men breaking her heart. Joining a dating site wasn’t the brightest idea, but when she meets Luc, it seems as though the Universe finally grants her wish. She gets bad boy, hot, and powerful all rolled into one. Little does she know: Luc is the one and only Prince of Darkness.

26Proserpina – Lonely Maiden looking for the king to her queen, to rule the world together.

The Devil of Dating is available in eBook and Print formats on Amazon. I will be attending Phoenix Comicon over Memorial Day weekend and will have a few copies available, as well as copies of Dusk of Death and The 434 Revolution. Come on by the booth and say hi, and enter to win a Kindle Fire or a signed book from yours truly! If you can’t make it to comicon, I’ll be holding an online giveaway that weekend as well.

I read a blog post the other day that made me realize just how lucky I am that my mother is still here, and it caused a calm-before-the-storm shuddering-standstill reaction from me. I broke.

In 2007, Umi had a Pulmonary Embolism. I knew it was serious then, and I drive her to her INR appointments every two to three weeks to have her blood checked now, to make sure it’s between that 2-3 range; not too thin, not too thick. She calls it her bloodletting. I have to watch her diet, too, because certain foods can thin or thicken her blood if she has too much of it. But what I didn’t know, what I learned the other day, was how very fucking beyond serious her situation was, and by that I mean how insanely close I came to losing my mother ten years ago when she threw that blood clot. I mean, blood clots kill about 100,000 Americans each year out of the roughly 900,000 affected. One in nine; that’s too close a call in my opinion. Blood clots are silent killers. It’s not like a heart attack; instead, they’re non-violent. You can’t pop an aspirin and stop it, or perform CPR to save a person’s life. You can, however, watch for signs because there are early warnings your body shouts at you.

I wanted to comment on the post, but I couldn’t seem to find the words, knowing that this person’s sibling was gone yet my mother was still here. It didn’t feel right, I guess, commenting. It’s difficult to explain the feeling, but I suppose the closest I can get to it is that by not commenting, I’m not adding to the possible survivor’s guilt the person might be feeling since it’s such a sudden death. Make sense? I don’t know. *shrugs* I liked the post to let her know I’d read it, even if I couldn’t offer words.

Umi’s 71st birthday is less than a month away. Last year, I took her to Hogwarts at Universal Orlando. She had a blast. I’m not sure if I can top that this year. Maybe I’ll just cook a steak and lobster dinner for her again. And buy her a new book she’s wanted for a while now.

But there’s one thing I know for certain, something I realized the day I read that blog…

Side note: Right now, my aunt is in long term care, and it’s killing me that I can’t help her get better. All I can do is work with my family to make sure her bills are paid and she’s getting the care she needs, and find a way to take care of the house before the home my grandparents built is gone, lost to the bank and medical liens. I want this house because it is the last piece of my childhood, my grandparents, but if the sum of loans and liens is too high, I can’t buy it, and that’s killing me. Seeing my aunt cry at the thought of not going home again and losing her precious dog because none of us can take him is beyond heartbreaking, too.

I am sick AF today, and of course, the best option is for me to stay in bed all comfy and cozy, bundled up in my Doctor Who fleece with my water and my meds and my chicken soup/broth and my Kleenex and my remote, and basically do another marathon of another movie series like I did Sat. and Sun. with The Hobbit and LOTR (extended editions, of course). Maybe Riddick this time. Or Marvel.

Unfortunately, I have to venture out into the world of the living today for an appointment with my allergist for yet another allergy test. Currently, I’m dealing with a sinus infection on top of the cold, because when this cold took hold, I wasn’t allowed to have my Claritin-D which keeps those from happening.

I am ecstatic to announce that Dusk of Death: an Armen Leza, Demon Hunter novel is available now on Amazon and the print will be available very soon!

If you’re so inclined, you may also join the Facebook event today. Celebrate! Win awesome prizes, one of which is a Kindle Fire! Have fun! Check out the deets HERE. I’d love to see you there!

On Sale Now

Dusk of Death

Demons, detectives, and a forensic scientist who has fallen from Hell.Hell wants her back.

Let the demon hunt begin.

When Armen Leza fell from Hell, demon hunting was the last thing on her mind, but when all Hell breaks loose, this Fallen is humankind’s only hope for salvation.

Armen feels alone in her flesh. She can hear things unheard by humans, scent out the gut-churning stench of evil, and see the shades that lurk in the shadows, but if there is one thing she knows for certain, it’s that demons lie.

When her past keeps rearing its ugly head, Armen and Phoenix P.D. Detective Terry Armstrong must face an apocalyptic event that will throw this world into the Darkness forever, leaving the fate of all humanity in the hands of the malevolent. Getting the truth out of demons can be murder, and Armen must do so before they succeed in extinguishing the Light.